1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a suction cup for a sheet feed mechanism for feeding stacked sheet-like members such as photographic films one by one.
2. Prior Art
Recently, there have widely been employed image recording apparatus in which image information produced by a computerized tomographic system or the like is displayed on a CRT display unit, and the displayed image information is recorded on a photographic light-sensitive medium such as a photographic film and thereafter developed into a visible image for medical diagnosis or the like. In such an image recording apparatus, unexposed photographic films, which are stacked in a magazine, are taken out by a sheet feed mechanism, and then transported to an exposure position by a sheet transporting mechanism.
Since such unexposed photographic films are required to be fed and exposed one by one, the sheet feed mechanism has a device for imparting swinging action to each film, so that a plurality of films can be partly prevented from sticking to each other and being fed together from the magazine.
The sheet feed mechanism typically comprises a suction cup for sucking or attracting a photographic film under suction. Conventional suction cups, however, are incapable of reliably preventing plural films from sticking together even when a swinging action is imparted to the films.
Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Publication No. 2(1990)-34534, which was filed prior to the priority date of the present application, discloses a suction mechanism capable of sucking and feeding sheet-like members such as flexible metal sheets for packaging IC or LSI thereon, one by one, even if no swinging action is given to the sheet-like members. FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings shows the disclosed suction mechanism. As shown in FIG. 1, the suction mechanism comprises a suction member 6 having a suction surface 4 facing a stack of sheet-like members 2, the suction surface 4 being curved as a wavy surface. When the uppermost sheet-like member 2 is held closely against the wavy suction surface 4, the next lower sheet-like member 2 is separated from the uppermost one.
However, the suction surface 4 of the suction member 6 shown in FIG. 1 does not have a flexible suction skirt, so the sheet-like member 2 cannot reliably be picked up.